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Mataram students call on voters to avoid Golput
Get out the vote: Dozens of activists from several religion-based student organizations, such as the Islamic Students Association (HMI), the Catholic Students Union (PMKRI) and the Indonesian Buddhist Students Association (Hikmahbudhi), stage a rally urging young voters to reject campaigns pushing people not to vote, in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, on Tuesday
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span class="inline inline-center">Get out the vote: Dozens of activists from several religion-based student organizations, such as the Islamic Students Association (HMI), the Catholic Students Union (PMKRI) and the Indonesian Buddhist Students Association (Hikmahbudhi), stage a rally urging young voters to reject campaigns pushing people not to vote, in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, on Tuesday. (JP/Panca Nugraha)
Dozens of activists from several religion-based student organizations, such as the Islamic Students Association (HMI), the Catholic Students Union (PMKRI) and the Indonesian Buddhist Students Association (Hikmahbudhi), staged a rally in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), on Tuesday.
They urged voters to avoid the Golput campaign, which encouraged them to not exercise their rights to vote during the upcoming election.
The students joining the Election Activists Network said the legislative and presidential elections in 2014 were an opportunity for Indonesians to choose their representatives and leaders who were capable of fighting for their interests.
Claims that Golput is a personal right have often been pushed by certain groups to thwart elections, said rally coordinator Ino Samuel.
'We, a group of interfaith students joining the Election Activists Network, urge people to reject Golput calls and campaigns and instead, we urge them to participate in the elections this year,' he went on.
Ino added that particular groups aiming to thwart the elections had started their Golput campaigns. They took advantage of people's disappointment in legislative members resulting from the 2009 election.
He said people must be encouraged to exercise their vote properly in the upcoming election because by choosing to abstain, they could do nothing if the elected representatives and leaders did not care about the best interests of the people.
'The General Elections Commission [KPU] as the election organizing institution and all elements of society should encourage people to decide and use their right to vote,' said Ino.
In the rally, the students also urged people to be smart voters who rejected vote buying, black campaigns or any campaign containing matters pertaining to ethnic, religious and racial relations.
Before staging the rally, the students visited the NTB Police headquarters and the KPU NTB in Mataram.
They asked the NTB Police to safeguard this year's election more tightly and take tougher action against alleged election violations. (idb/ebf)
